Roller devices are often used for painting, and trays have been especially adapted for use with the rollers. Conventional rollers have cylindrical shapes, and most trays are designed to accommodate the cylindrical rollers. For example, the following U.S. Patents disclose trays especially adapted for use with conventional paint rollers: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,815,604; Des. 282,882; Des. 286,458; Des. 327,755; and Des. 328,808.
There are a number of deficiencies associated with conventional cylindrical rollers. For example, interior corners result from the intersection of two planar wall surfaces, generally at a right angle. Interior corners are generally painted with a brush to ensure that an adequate amount of paint gets into the corner. To paint such corners with a conventional cylindrical roller would require at least two passes if one were an extremely proficient painter, but generally many passes are required. To save time in painting, it would be desirable if an interior corner of a room could be painted with a roller with only one pass required to paint both walls near the intersection at the corner.
Trays that are used with conventional cylindrical rollers generally have two major tray areas. There is one area for loading the roller with paint, and there is a second area on which excess paint can be squeezed out of the roller. In this respect, it would be desirable if a device were provided that would load a roller designed to paint two wall surfaces at an interior corner simultaneously in such a manner that the roller would have enough paint in the center of the roller so that the crevices of the corner could be painted, but less paint near the edges of the roller so that there would be no excess paint left on the walls. Such a device should also include an area especially adapted for squeezing excess paint out of a roller designed to paint two wall surfaces at an interior corner simultaneously.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,791, issued to Holcomb et al. (the Holcomb patent), discloses a paint roller and tray apparatus designed to address the deficiencies of conventional rollers for use in painting corners. The Holcomb patent discloses a roller with two adjacent canted peripheral edges that form a sharp angle. The sharp angle of the roller disclosed in the Holcomb patent is complementary to the angle of most interior corners encountered when painting. The roller disclosed in the Holcomb patent is made from absorbent material such as sponge or foam-like material.
The tray disclosed in the Holcomb patent is similar to the trays used for loading conventional cylindrical rollers in that it is a roughly rectangular pan with an open top that includes a pool region adapted to contain a quantity of coating material. The tray disclosed in the Holcomb patent also includes a squeeze area adjacent to the pool region for receiving the roller portion for squeezing out excess coating material from the roller portion. The squeeze area includes a slot with canted walls that are complimentary to the canted walls of the roller.
While it is an improvement over the use of conventional cylindrical rollers for painting interior corners, the roller disclosed in the Holcomb patent has several deficiencies. The use of sponges or foam-like material for the roller does not allow the roller to be loaded in a manner that puts the most paint in the corner where it is needed. The material used in the roller can become over saturated with coating material causing excess material to run down the walls and stain the floor covering. The design of the roller includes a sharp angle at the location where the two canted edges meet and this forces covering material out of the corner, past the canted edges, and onto the adjacent walls.
The sponge or foam rollers disclosed in the Holcomb patent do not allow a user to change the nap of the roller to ensure even coverage of textured surfaces. To change the roller of the Holcomb patent, a user must take the entire roller off of the rolling device, and the entire roller must then be cleaned or disposed of. The tray assembly disclosed in the Holcomb patent does not include a carrying handle and is difficult to move from room to room without spilling paint when the pan is full.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use conventional cylindrical paint rollers and trays, and teaches the use of a sponge or foam roller with canted walls for painting corners, it does not teach or suggest a paint roller and loading device which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) permits an interior corner of a room to be painted with a roller with only one pass required to paint both walls near the corner; (2) allows a user to change naps when painting different textured surfaces; (3) places more paint in the corner than on the adjacent walls; (4) allows the painting surface of the roller to be cleaned or disposed of separately from the roller hub; (5) can be used in a variety of different ways to apply paint to a multitude of surfaces; and (6) includes a device especially adapted for properly loading paint into a special roller designed to paint two wall surfaces at an interior corner simultaneously, and that can be placed inside a conventional paint bucket and therefore be easily moved without fear of spillage. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique roller hub, roller cover and paint grid of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.